No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - NLU Podcast, Episode 218: Scott Stallings

Episode Date: May 27, 2019

Scott Stallings joins us from Colonial where we discuss the radical transformation of his body, 10 Dr. Peppers a day, adrenal fatigue, his suspension from the PGA Tour, and a shocking statement that he received from Tim Finchem. We also discuss his involvement with youth golf in Tennessee, the lengthy PGA Tour schedule, and a lot more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I'm going to be the right club today. Yeah. That is better than most. How about him? That is better than most. Better than most. All right guys, welcome back to the podcast. We are going to get to our interview with Scott Stallings here shortly. We are back from a great week in Fort Worth at the Charles Schwab challenge. It was great to see everyone out at the tournament.

Thanks to everyone that swung by our little impromptu meet up on Thursday afternoon. It was great to be out and about with the folks a fort worth and I look forward to making several trips back to the area and to colonial in the future. It was a great success. The first year with Charles Schwab being involved in the tournament and Kevin Naum, a very, very deserved winner. I was very interested to hear him say that this is one of seven or eight golf courses he feels like on the PGA tour that he can win at. And he went out and did it. That was impressive.

And I thought his interview out afterward with Peter Costas where he said he basically engraved his name in that wall of champions on that first tee when he teed off today in his mind. Although that was really cool. So he walked him in. You know what? I don't need to describe it any further. Why don't we just turn it over to this random, totally random voicemail collar who might have a thing or two to say?

What's up, boys? It's Kevin now calling for Fort Worth. Not sure if you guys caught the Charles Schwab challenge at Colonial or not, but there was just one dude who couldn't stop walking and then that's me. Anyways, I like to give a few shout outs to many of you know that I joined Caliway team this year. And it's just been amazing.

Big shout outs to my FB Flash tree wood that every time I hit it, flushed it down the middle. And my Odyssey 2-Lond Plotter that I kept pouring puts in with. Thanks for hashtagging, walk in Wednesday, and Kevin Knowledge Challenge from Odyssey Golf. Major shout out to the Caliowr staff and the passion to help us play our best golf every single week.

These guys are incredible. Oh, and I can't forget the marketing guys who helped me prepare for this win with the three-hole challenge recently filmed. If you haven't seen it, make sure you check it out on Caliowr YouTube now. After you guys no lane up, you just keep being you. You keep doing you. Love you guys. See you guys no lane up, you just keep being you. You keep doing you. Love you guys.

See you guys soon. Thank you, random Kevin that happened to call in without any further delay. Let's get to our interview with Scott Stollings that we recorded down there at Colonial. I think you guys are going to really enjoy this one. Cheers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the No Lang a podcast. We are here at Colonial in Fort Worth, Airbnb of Mr. Scott Stallings. Are you an Airbnb or a hotel guy on the road? What's the deal here? Probably more of an Airbnb. This is my kind of my last year of my family traveling

full time and we just find ourselves in houses more and try to have a little bit more space and a little bit more convenient for my kids running around and so on and so forth. And they're not here this week, so we got a couple guys that we rented a house together right here in TCU campus. So who do you room with?

I have a 26 year old child as well. I train mullin' next and we have our trainer, Adam Curly, that trades stays with us, but it's kind of a revolving door. Well, we're gonna get to some of the training stuff, but I don't wanna spoil too much of the video if people haven't seen it yet. I'm assuming by the time this podcast goes up that I'll have posted it, but how badly

did you kick Tron's ass in the gym today? Well, we got to give him some props because he actually went in there. That's true. I mean, he- Oh, I did. It was filming. He made it significantly further than most people, just the fact that he went in there. And you know, took it on the chin, hey, I'm gonna do his best to possibly can.

But based on his night activities the evening before to transition to an early morning like cardio workout was he probably made better decisions. But it was funny, he was struggling on the treadmill and then he ran the fastest, he ran all day to the trash can. I was worried, he had me scouting trash cans for him. He was like, hey yo, does that lid come off that trash can. I was worried, I, he had me scouting trash cans for him. He's like, hey, yo, does that lid come off that trash can?

I was like, no, dude, like the one that you need is on the other side of the gym. And that was the fastest I've ever seen him move and big rainy moves to go film that, to film it, spreading to the trash can. But I do got to give him credit, especially his dedication to the content. I think he drank extra last night just to make sure that he puke. I'll forgive it. Well, I guess let's just start then there. I mean, I know it's been a subject of a lot of interviews you've done

and a lot of questions you've gotten. But your body has changed a lot in recent years and you've shown how much you... I imagine if people watch the video can get an understanding of the dedication you've had to your physical fitness. What kind of triggered that and how did you end up kind of really transforming your body? Yeah, I mean, 2015 was a tough year for me, you know, on the course, off the course,

and you know, just trying to, you know, truly figure out like if I was going to be able to do this for very much longer and do, what do you mean by do this for me, no longer? Just play golf and, you know, my struggling, like I had my game sucked, my body wasn't great, you know, so on. And just trying to figure out what in the world was going on. And slowly but surely start asking some questions, you know, I had my, you know, whole unique situation with the tour happening.

And to be honest, like as much as I would rather have never gone through that, that was kind of the catalyst. It kind of kicked it off. It's like, man, maybe I really do have a way bigger problem than I think I do. And I started asking some questions and so on and so forth. And there's a bunch of different tests I had done. But I was 29 at the time in transition, looking into,

there's a test that where they can do your biological age. Oh no. Which was terrifying. And I guess like, man, what does do all these blood tests? And you know, just kind of see how, you know, what you are and my biological age came back and I was 42. I was like, holy cow. Well, what triggered you getting looked at

were you just the feeling you had in your body? Yeah, I had it. Just, I was slept all the time and then I wake up and I feel like I could go right back to bed. And, you know, I had some hormonal imbalance and everyone's like, oh, testosterone, whatever. That was completely not even a priority. It was just trying to just level out

and be what I was supposed to be. And, you know, that was just the smallest snippet of what we were trying to look at. But at the end of the day, it was, I was trying to make a change. I was trying to be, you know, take a little bit better care of myself. But I had none of the, like, the baseline to even start to do that. My sleep patterns were awful. You know, my diet was average at best.

I was telling you guys earlier, like, the first negotiated workout I had with Adam was to go from 10 Dr. Pepper's a day to three. I mean, to go from like that, which is, you know, a few years ago to now, it's pretty wild, but now you can't imagine having. Oh my gosh. I were here at colonial and I was telling John my caddy yesterday. I remember one of the first years, they have these huge styrofoam cups and they have crushed ice in the walker, which is amazing.

No, just amazing. And I brought my own doctor pepper because for some reason they have Mr. Pib in the locker room. And I remember going, it was a hundred degrees at least, riding in the cart to the range and had a big 40 ounce doctor pepper and I was getting ready to go play a PGA tour event. It's like, what in the world, man? What are you doing? And to look back now as far as where I've come is,

it's tough to say, but man, I'm not gonna be the guy that Shia is away from me, they're like, I was a horrible steward of what I had, a horrible care of myself. And if what I went through is a catalyst or an opportunity to speak into someone's life as far as man, you only get one chance of this, you only get one body. And whether they look at it from a professional golfer

or a dad and a husband that's just literally trying to do it every possible can to be there for his family. And golf was not a priority. And the fact that I'm able to do this and be out here and live my dream on the PGA tour is a huge bonus. So whether it's 64, 78, man, 78, man, you know, you can contact those rounds a little bit easier when you truly didn't know if you're going to

be able to do this for very much longer. Yeah, I can't speak to it because I'm maybe in one of the worst shapes of my life, thanks to some some wrist issues I've had, but I've kind of, that's my excuse I'm giving for now. I'm having worked out lately, but like when, when I have been in good shape, the feeling you have all day long of just feeling fit is kind of irreplaceable. That's what I feel like. The vibe I get from you is you just feel

so much more comfortable in your own skin, from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed. Yeah, and it's just a matter of setting a, it's not a matter if and when, it's just a matter of what time of day. And my time management's way better, and it just, it kind of takes time of day. And, you know, my time management's way better. And it just, it kind of takes the dead time away too. And, and unfortunately, when I was going through all that stuff,

you know, Adam, who you guys met earlier, was a huge part of my life. And, you know, I was by no means, hey, let's go to the gym, you know, seven days a week is like, man, let's just try to get there like 20 minutes and, you know, kind of see what happens And and so on so forth, but like through that like sort of dark time or whatever. That's where I found Comfort that's where I found. You know, this is where I go when things are good. This is where I go when things are bad and

Not that unnecessarily You know condone or whatever when you know you people like to deal with substance abuse or whatever But I can 100% understand how they get there. No doubt, and I was very, very, very fortunate, because like I definitely could have probably gone down that road, you know, just to the point of not like, any kind of, it's just try to get away from what I was dealing with on and off the golf course,

just trying to figure out truly what was happening. And thankfully, I mean, Adam was probably the biggest part of it come alongside and like, hey man, let's go in there and try to figure out, like, let's find the best version of you in here. And, you know, that's, you know, kind of where we are today. Well, what, what did you, what was the official diagnosis when you did all those testing and got your biological, biological age there? Like, what was, were you diagnosed with anything in particular? Yeah, the, I went and saw this guy. It was actually at this tournament. I reached out to two endocrinologists, one in Boston and one in UCLA and basically they were the two most world renowned guys and a set of emails, phone calls,

literally everything I possibly could to try to understand what in the world was happening and reached out to this guy, UCLA, got a call Monday night of colonial and he said, I can see you Thursday., got to call Monday, nine of colonial. And he said, I can see you Thursday. If I don't see you Thursday, my next available appointment is four months. It's like, I'll be there. I spent eight hours with this dude.

And it was like a combination of house and Colonel Sanders. Dude's like 70 years old, white hair, this and that. But he was an endocrinologist, like, but he basically was a diagnostician as well. That was the best way to describe it. I'm sure he has some crazy title, but in our terms, that's what he did. Yeah. It's been a much time with him, and we come back in his office, and I had no idea.

I thought he was going to, hey, man, you take this or you know, you eat this or so on so forth, and you're good. And I walk in and he goes back through and says, well, I can tell you one thing, you're not going to die. And I like literally my jaw hit the floor. Like if my jaw could have hit his desk, it would have I said, well, to be honest, sir, if I would have known that that was an option, I truly don't know if I'd have come here. He said, well, man, if you're in my office, that's a very, very real possibility.

I tell people every single day they have something that's incurable and I was just, I was shocked, it laid it like all the mix of emotions that you think of just because I didn't know that. I didn't know that that's a verity of it. No idea. He said, you are in rough shape. He said, but I can tell you one thing, it's gonna be a long process,

but he said, you will get back to where you think you could be. And he wrote down a list of pretty basic run of the mill test and kind of take bits and pieces of each part and kind of put it together as far as, this is causing this, this is causing this, this is causing this. And did some allergy test,

did some food sensitivity test. And then the biggest thing was I was at an allergist who took a bunch of tick marks and showed me, he said, man, you've been in my office 30 minutes and you've y'allened about 30 times. And then he sent me to an ENT, did a scan of my sinus cavity, I broke my nose, a bunch of the kid, and you know, like red necks and Tennessee,

we just kind of popped it back in place and dealt with it. But it never healed properly. So the entire left side of my sinus cavity was a wreck and the ENT went and then transferred me over to a sleep study and kind of put it all together that my sleep patterns was all basically obstructive sleep apnea. So I didn't have the I guess where the the CPAP was not required. I had surgery and it kind of Adjusted it all and they didn then the ultimate diagnosis from the sleep

was like functional narcolepsy. Where I would lay down like I would sleep and nothing would happen. I would just lay there for a really long time. Oh. So I'm not getting any rest. No rest at all. And so like really long, slow,

like stressful job that in call involves it and a lot of travel was literally the worst thing I could have done. So life on the PGA tour was pretty tough. So anytime I worked out, it was the best time I felt, it was the best I felt all day. And the way that they kind of related it to is like, you know, if the alternating your car is gonna go out

and you gotta merge on the interstate or whatever and you cram on the gas, that thing is going to work, man. But as soon as you take your foot off the gas and that thing's just got to kind of idle out a little bit, like it's going to struggle. So like anything that was just like super long method, I remember playing the players in 2015. Somehow I made the cut. I have no idea. And I remember I was playing with Webb, who anyone that knows of Webb, he walks so fast. I mean, it's running. And I remember him walking down 16, and I was like a hundred yards behind him,

walking and turned around and I said, but yeah, like I'm not 100% what's going on, but like, you need to get this figured out. Just like, what's happening with you? Like, you look like you feel terrible and I said, man, like, I truly have no idea what's going on. And that was kind of like, the players in 2015 was the one like, was the weak acting look back on us?

Like, I'll never forget. I'll never forget it from somebody else. I'll never forget it, but I want to forget it. Right. But that was kind of the week. All right, it's time to take some ownership and figure out truly what's happening here. So what is the next step?

Once you start taking the ownership, is it immediate change of the diet? Is this where Adam comes in and helps you really change your workout routine? What do you cut out? What do you add? What's your process? It's just incremental improvements, man. It's pretty hard to improve 10% in one area, but it's pretty easy to improve 1% in 10 areas across the board.

It was just understanding of a little bit diet, a little bit of sleep, a little bit of training, and a little bit better time management, a little bit of understanding like, man, take what you're doing, and we're going to change all of it. That's why everyone's like, well, you don't really see an emphasis on golf. It's like, man, if I don't take care of this, I can't, I definitely can't do that. And so, the fact that I was mildly competitive to say it lightly, I would probably say that would be a bit of an understatement, but I'll just say you won three times in this. But that was all it is.

But to say that I was competitive or whatever and kind of go through that now to be on the other side of it is like to look Max like man how did I do any of that? Well kind of looking back at you know You're your record on the PJ tour to that point. It was kind of feast or famine I mean you you you've won three times like I said in that time period But you basically kind of miss about half of your cuts Do you owe that to your body, not just being unsure as to how your body's gonna respond

week to week? Yeah, I remember looking back and playing rounds and just like, I don't know what I feel like and why is this happening and so on and so forth. And I've been probably a pretty good segue as far as you guys are asking how I met Adam. I had a fairly significant back problem in 2012. I woke up in a Connecticut to I was playing,

obviously the schedule's totally different then, but I woke up and I literally couldn't walk. Like my back was all jacked up and so on and so forth. And I'd known Adam, but not to the extent that I know him. Now truly, I mean, he's my trainer and PT or whatever, but like, I don't call him that. Man, truly one of my best friends in the world. Like, if I had a few calls left in life,

like he would be one of them, like no doubt. And I went and saw this back guy. He's like, man, you need some herniation surgery on your L4L5. I was like, man, I'm pretty young that like be talking about that. And that's a serious, serious surgery. Yeah, like a major.

And it's like, man, let's jump to guns. I call that and it's like, hey, you know, I know we haven't worked together like to this extent, but what do you think I should do? He's like, man, give me a couple weeks. And we did like three days. Like, it was brutal. But he's like, I can promise you,

he said, I will give you every ounce of what I'd have in my training to help you avoid this. He said, I do not think you need this. It's the three days are more structural for the back. It wasn't three day workouts. Yes, no workouts. It was trying to get up to stairs. Like truly, the first time I went,

he had to help me to his therapy room and his upstairs at his house. And it just helped me up and look back on it now, the surgery was scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday of, it was the true South, which now the Sanderson Farms, and it was in the summertime time. It was absolutely brutal hot. We come and the day I was supposed to have surgery out, Bogey Free 64. And two days later, I won the tournament and it was just kind of like, I remember calling

him, I'm the way to the next tournament. I was like, but yeah, I don't know why we were putting each other's lives, but like, truly, it was meant for it. It was divine and, and we're here for, for a reason. And, you know, we've been super tied ever since. And, but that was kind of like what kicked it off for both of us to be of the, you know, be where we are today. So, you kind of touched on it. You said you, you described it as your incident with a tour.

Well, I guess I, you know, people, people know that you were suspended for three months back in 2015 for a self-reported incident. But I don't think I had the full frame of reference on kind of the transition you were going through with your body at the time and kind of your reaction to, I guess, take us there. Take us what happened with the sequence of events that led to that. Well, we, it was right at the time where golf was going to be in the Olympics and they made a huge, as far as far as the tour was going under WADA. We were, you know, up and up on the drug testing and, and contacting that next step is to

far legitimize the policy, which the policy has been scrutinized time and time and time again and policies and procedures. And at the end of the day, any policies that has a subjectivity of the commissioner can make the ultimate discretion. And truly, they're going to make the decision based on what's the best interest of the tour. And unfortunately for myself, like, I got held to that.

But they had a meeting at the, uh, so let's slow that down a little bit. So you're saying, like basically the, the commissioner, you can have anyone can test positive for something in the lands on the commissioner's desk. And he decides, he has, he has ultimate discretion. Yeah. At the end of the, the policy is 28 pages long.

I can tell you the drug policy, the drug policy's 28 pages and you can go through water band band what's so on so forth. And this isn't a jab at the policy or whatever it is what it is. But in terms of if you put discretion in terms of one person, I mean, there's going to be ebbs and flows and all kinds of myriad of emotions that happen in regard to that. And at that time, the policy was, I mean, it was battered and torn. And I mean, it needed someone to come alongside. It's like, hey, we'll actually enforce this if we see fit. And when I went to them, we had a meeting at farmers about, you know, understanding

WADA and understanding like what that meant. And the big thing was like allergies and understanding like what you could take, what you couldn't take, what you needed to get approved and so on and so forth. And they said, there's anything that you're taking prescribed by a doctor, whatever, please tell us. And we'll try to help you through that process. Well, I've been, I just kind of started the health process

that at the beginning of 2015, I'd been, I just kind of started the health process that began in 2015. I had a physical and doctor said, Hey, you've kind of got some issues with some hormone panels and stuff. She said, we're going to give you this thing. It's over the counter. Abodic crowvers, like $10.50, whatever, like no, no issue called DHA. And you know, knowing what I know now, like, I mean, obviously, I did not do my due diligence. I literally took the word of a doctor. I bought a grocery store. I didn't think anything about it.

Right. And is that specific drug listed in that specific drug? In order to fail for that specific drug, you have to take truck loads. Yeah. It has to be injected. My Croger brand, DHE HGA probably really wasn't doing anything, but in the day it was banned, I didn't do my dedilions.

That's 100% on me. And like I take full responsibility for that. But during the process, I had been drug tested the next week and known that I was on that. And I'd kind of gone through the process and I remember calling in. And I said, hey, I was drug tested, I passed. I took this while I was drug tested,

like how's that possible? Like how can you have something on the list that's a prohibited substance and you have a guy that passes? Like the policies messed up or you're testing sucks. Like if it's on there, like you should get popped. And that was kind of my point. And so I went to him and said, I took this.

I've taken it for, at that time, I said I've taken it for 28 days. Here's my doctor's notes. Here's all my labs. Here's the justification for why we're doing it. You know, maybe we can kind of help this in far as, if we're truly doing this with water, maybe we can do a better job as far as educating the players and kind of help

them through this process because, you know, my health and whatever should not circumvent, you know, my opportunity to live a normal life. Right. And that was kind of my point. And so we started going through the process and I turned, I basically self reported in January. I didn't hear anything till the first week of April. And you're any communication back then. No, like we'll get back to you. So I'm playing tournaments, I'm going through. And at that, I stopped taking it.

This and that, well, my manager at times like, hey, this water thing is gonna be for real. You need to go. So I remember I was living, I spent the last six years between Scottsdale and Knoxville, Tennessee. And I remember going, I called my managers like, hey, I didn't give the any opportunity to take a knee on this. Like, I reported, I did this.

I know I did it. Like, I turned myself in. I mean, that's kind of in line with how golf works. Yes, 100%. And like, I didn't want to give myself the chance to like, oh well, I passed, I could just stop taking it no one over now, like I knew. And but I truly went into it with the best of intentions. Like man, if I maybe we can make this better for everybody.

Like never even remotely thought, hey the tours are on my back, like we're gonna come alongside each other, make this better, so on so forth. That was clearly not the case. You're not imagining that you would get suspended for like trying to help us with this process. Never remotely.

But as a little bit of a backup or whatever, the day that I reported, the day that I took the substance that I was suspended for, I was actually suspended for admitted use of a prohibitive substance, never for failing, but number eight on the failures in terms of ways to fail a drug test, that was admitted use. Okay.

And so I went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, paid $937 and asked for an Olympic test. Like if I was gonna go whatever, if I was going to the Olympics to the Institute of Degree, said sir, like we've literally done about five of these. It's like, no, I don't care my insurance. I'm gonna pay for it. Like, test me like I'm going to the Olympics tomorrow.

And I mean, they tested everything. And Pat, of hair, blood, everything you can think of. I passed everything. And I turned that into him and they said, you told us you took it. Like I was like, what's happening here? Like, I get it that I told you that, but there's a problem. And so coming to find out, like, in order to fail for that, you have to take a huge amount.

Huge amounts. My 25 milligram over the counter at Kroger wouldn't probably do it very much at all. Well, so I think you it very much at all. Well, so I think you're kind of building all towards the final part of it, falling on the commissioners desk and they have ultimate say in that. So do you feel like that basically you were made an example out of kind of this policy in some way?

Yeah. And to look back on it, like I was sharing with you guys earlier, like this is not a bash on the tour or whatever. This is just a, I was a good guy doing the right thing at a right time that was at the benefit of the tour. And I remember walking into a meeting, I was handed a letter, telling me I was suspended, never got an opportunity to share my side of the story

with Commissioner Finchham. And he said, directly to my face, he said, I feel like you were trying to gain an advantage on your players. And I said, you could not be further from the truth. I said, if I was gaining advantage on my players, we'd have never be having this conversation. Cause he's still doing it. And we kind of went back and forth a little bit

as far as trying to figure out the timing and so on and so forth. I mean, they helped me out with all that as far as picking and choosing like when you would go down. When I was going out and so on and so forth. I mean, they helped me out with all that as far as picking and choosing like when you would go out. When I was going out and so on and so forth. But I mean, still like that, the fact that that even happened blew my mind that yourself, Doug Barron and Bofik Patel were the three people in the history of the PJ tour to be suspended for substance, whatever performance enhancing drugs or whatever you wanna call it. Yeah.

And, you know, but those were positive tests. Right. Like, I never test a positive ever, even though that I said that through the whole thing that, but looking back on it, there's no way I would be to where I am to this point in my life or my career if I probably didn't go through that. Right.

And obviously there's silver linings and so on and so forth. Truly, do I wish it was handled differently? 100% of course. You know, my kids are going to look down one day and but we'll sit down and be like, man, daddy did the right thing. Yeah. What would the advantage even be get you beginning in that even like, let's say you're taking an amount of that that is actually would test positive? Is it for strength? Is it, it would probably be strength,

like a little bit of muscle endurance, DHAs or pre-cursure testosterone. Okay. And it's also a pre-cursure to kind of help just balance out your hormone panels. And so on and so forth. But I think, so like if you were taking steroids, it would help you level out so you wouldn't test positive.

No, it's not like a mask by any means, but it's kind of like an enhancer for, enhancers are wrong word, precursor to help, cortisol production, as far as testrogen, testosterone, estrogen, so on and so forth, and just kind of like helps optimize that part of your system, I guess. Because I don't, I'm, this is going back from the baseball days of trying to learn about steroids, but it's not like, so basically when you take steroids, I think, like your testosterone goes up,

and you need to lever out your epitestosterone. And that's not what DHEA does. Now, DHEA just kind of help optimizes, and the production of takes your body and puts it in a better situation to produce its own. And it's not like a testosterone enhancer or anything like that. But at the time, my wife had a higher testosterone and free testosterone than I did. I was 29 years old and my testosterone total was 98. And my free was 0.8.

So I mean any doctor, anything like that, to look at it like, that's a problem. And I mean, cortisol was all my inflammatory markers were off the charts, like just the guy was a wreck. And now look at it, understanding is like, man, pretty like proud of, you know, with the steps that we took to kind of make to get to where we are today. So I'll use my words to kind of describe this.

And you can, you can say if you agree or disagree, but it sounds to me like this whole situation that if it's, if this had landed on the commissioners desk on, on Fincham's desk in 2015. And it was insert top 40 ish player in the world. The commissioner could have easily thrown it out, but your name was at least like recognizable enough that 2015 and it was insert top 40-ish player in the world. The commissioner could have easily thrown it out, but your name was at least like recognizable enough that it almost seems like they wanted to make an example. It was a recognizable name on the PGA tour that they could kind of flex and show this policy on.

Does that how you feel it played out? And I was exempt. Yes, I wasn't gonna lose my job. Got you. So at that point, like I'd made enough points through the year and I was exempt from winning and, you know, I kind of checked all the boxes. Got you.

So you had one in 2014. Yeah, I was, I was, I was 2015, so you were exempt for 15 and 16. Yeah, it was a perfect storm as far as, you know, a good guy doing the right thing. We're gonna uphold our end of the policy and oh yeah, he can still do it every once next year. Yeah, I came back at Napa, the, you know, the start of the 2016 season. God, it's amazing. It's amazing to hear the details of it. Because like I said,

like the back of the day, I remember reading it. I was like, Oh, okay, we'll see Scott in three in three months. And you don't really think much about why, you know, you do the kind of what you're talking about. You almost get kind of what you're talking about. You almost get kind of labeled or being known as that guy that got suspended for it more than the reasonings behind it aren't told really, maybe, the way that he was like them told with a full detail. Well, okay, so around this time,

is this, you know, you had this three months off, is this when you really start getting serious about the gym, is that kind of the turning point around that time frame? Or? Yeah, I had a huge sinus surgery. I knew I knew I was going out, I scheduled it, and that was the biggest part. And basically they topped it bottom, they wrote or wrote it my entire sinus cavity, wrote,

nose, everything you can think of, And just to try to get it back to where like I could breathe properly to sleep and so on and so forth. And that was like the kickoff. So like once I get through this surgery recovery and everything and, you know, I remember the doctor said, man, it's going to take me about 45 minutes to do this, but I'm going to mesh your life up for a couple of weeks. But looking back on it and the recovery was sucked. My throat, just breathing was brutal. But looking back, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Like to feel like I feel now, to be able to go run around and do the stuff like we did today, like, man, that's just like a normal day. And. So that's what I'm always curious, because I'm watching the weights and stuff you're doing in the gym today, and you said this was a light day.

Do you just feel like you got in your body to a point that when you do this during tournament week, you don't lose any feel in your game and your body's almost relying on yourself to keep working out to blend in with your goal? Like if I go lift weights before swinging a golf club, I wouldn't be able to keep it on the planet. I think a lot of people have struggled with that too. I watch Keppga lift in all these weights and stuff and I don't understand how you balance that with a regular playing schedule.

Well, it's just kind of becomes what your normal is. Right. Like, you know, your body's not aching after a workout. No, it's just better. My body aches when I don't, like when I have a day off, or like, you know, I take some rest days or something like that, I come back into it.

Like I do way more mobility, like moving around and so on and so forth after a rest day or two. Coming in, it's like, man, I hadn't moved around in a couple of days, like trying to figure out. I try to do something every day. That was gonna say. And whether it's like a light run, you know, I'd mess around with some yoga every now and then

just to try to move around. Our bodies were meant to move. And, you know, so trying to just do something, chase my kids around, whatever. And, but it's amazing the, what I feel like, especially if I'm coming out, you know, and it's, it's every day, I do some, in regards to, from the gym to the course,

and, you know, whether it's warm up, whether it's a big training session, light training session, cardio, whatever, and it just kind of feeds into the normal part of my day. Well, so I guess some analysts and people on broadcast will kind of criticize people for being too obsessed with working out and whatnot. But hearing you talk about it, it doesn't sound like, first of all, golf is not your end all be all or what defines you as person. No.

And it's how has that, I guess, how is this translated into your golf game? If you picked up speed, have you had to learn a new golf swing with a new body? What's that process been like? Yeah. I actually, we were at Trinity Forest a couple weeks ago. My caddy, I'm not, my coach got Hamilton, obviously, does a ton of track man. So I've learned whatever from him. We were hitting some drivers in my,

it's kind of like man, for a Tuesday, like your speed, what's going on here? And never in my life have I been a 120's gap, ever. And I hit 120's, like Rory's, like 120, to 123 probably. Yeah, so I hit 120.8 on a Tuesday, which early in the week for me is like,

man, if I can kind of cruise it around before like, if I could touch like 110, 112 or whatever, like it's like, Jesus. All right, man, we're, we're gonna be all right. And then you kind of get it up in the tournament, but like 120 was probably my fastest speed of the year last year in term of play. But just, you know, start to look at it like,

just way more repeatable. You know, I don't have the just the volatility swings of just like, you know, do I feel good? Do I not feel good? My body moves properly. And I feel like I'm able to produce more with significantly less effort. And you know, kind of get myself into a spot

where I can operate for a full season. Well, and you just operate it a much more level playing field. Cause we talked, we talked on earlier, you won, I think three times in your first 87 starts, but you didn't know what you were getting on a way to lead basis. No telling. And so like what, but it almost seems like,

and I remember kind of looking back even at that time in your career and looking like that's like the way to do it on the BGA tour though, like you'd rather win one tournament and miss 15 cuts, like money-wise than have, you know, 10 straight T20s or something like that, is that right?

Yeah, and the way that the FedEx Cup is now, like it's way more like top heavy. You know, I remember when they did that thing, it was like, you know, you had one top three or a 10 top 25s, a 10 top 25 guy would beat the top three. Now it's almost opposite. You know, that top like 12 points guy like, is got a rolling. But anyway, I mean, obviously more inconsistencies better. Yeah.

You know, the more times you put yourself in that situation, the better off it is and so on and so forth. But I would say that I brought my bottom up a little bit, like in terms of my performance, and the tops a little bit higher, and then that kind of middle range is kind of where I stay in there. The bottom's not quite as low, but the upside is significantly higher than it's ever been.

Because I mean, you know, as I don't want to say you've been inconsistent, but as volatile as your week to week performance has been, like you have kept a steady I think you've finished outside the top 125 and back to back years. That's the only two times that you've, I mean, you've had your tour card basically since 2011. Yeah, this is my ninth year and one of them,

I've, with the, that was off the FedEx, when I was suspended, I technically kept my card because money was allowed. And that was the difference. But 2016 when I came back is when I had to go to the web finals. What was that process like? I mean, I kind of, I knew going in,

there was gonna be a long year, I was making a huge change, you know, physically, I was coming back off the suspension, I was dealing with recovering and understanding with the surgery the surgery. So it didn't surprise me. Yeah. Especially like, were you more surprised how close? I mean, you were like, what, 128, they're 129, they're something. Yeah, the fact that I got that close, but then it was like a mental thing. I remember I lost my card at Wyndham, but like going into it, like I already had a plan. Like went to Carter's Hill where my coach is,

and we just had a powwow for two or three days, and we figured it out. Finished like six, and that was Cleveland, and then we went to Boise, and I finished like four through fifth there, and I was done. That's all you needed. I was done. I went to Columbus and finished like 20th,

and I was done. You were cruising. So you're about, where do you rank, on the distance scale on the BGA tour? I have no idea. Just like would you say you're slightly above average in distance, but it's not a huge advantage for you. Do you feel like the tour, like the courses you guys go to since the beginning of the career and your career and you've been out here like eight years now?

Is it trending more and more and more and more towards distance? Do you feel that? Is it something like you're actively trying to gain more distance in any way? No, no. I mean, I think distance is a byproduct of, you know, good mechanics and strength. And, you know, understanding, you optimize them equipment and so on and so forth. But it's not like, man, I'm ready to bomb. If I was trying to bomb it and like I use a short driver, you know,

I'm trying to make sure I find my ball. Yeah. And if I hit it out there and hit it solid, it's gonna go 24. And that's kind of the way I feel about it. What are your favorite courses to go to? Memorial, next week's my favorite course on tour without question. I love, obviously, I've had a good success at Tori.

I love it there. I really, really like Congressional. I know a bunch of guys hated it. I think the ninth hole was awful, but the rest of the course I thought was great. I just like the feel there. And then I need to play my way in, but Memphis is my second favorite course.

It's one, I like the places where you make the cut on the numbers so I have a chance to win, especially that, you know, definitely probably one of the most underrated courses you've got all year. Why have you had so much success at Tori Pines? Well, the year I won, I never made the cut and I told myself if I didn't make the cut there, that year I was never playing again. And I've been out I won and I've got beaten to play off by Jason Day the next year.

So it's like I did I started this idea is like I'm gonna go to every course. But like if I don't play good here, I've never come back and it lasted about three weeks. And then I started playing bad again. I was like, oh, maybe I need a different plan. Was it 2014? You won it? The farmers, I remember was that the year that if you beat like a group of people, a group of five by one shot. Yeah, so I remember being mad. I birdie 18. Yeah, you ruined the chance for a six-way playoff, which I think would have been awesome. No, it wouldn't have been awesome. It was great. I was very happy to play it out. I want to talk a bit about, we saw some stuff on Twitter

in the last couple of weeks, but what you're doing with Junior Golf in Tennessee, how that started and what's going on there. Yeah, so it was 2011, 2012, kind of in that regard. And the Tennessee Golf Foundation director, Dick Horton, I was down in the planning of in-skills program called the Vinny and got kind of summoned to like the principal's office. I mean Dick's a great guy and he's actually he's actually just retired and transitioned over to another guy with Turnbo is going to an incredible job with the foundation and just Tennessee golf in general. But came in alongside and said, hey, we want you to kind of figure

out what you're kind of put your foot in. And you know, you're stamp on golf and said Tennessee. And you know, it's up to you to figure out what you want to do. And it's like, man, I have no idea. And a really good friend of mine that was working for the golf associates at times like, back when I was in junior golf, we had a thing called the tristate where Tennessee can tucking in the anna we had the best juniors and we all played against each other. Well logistics and seasons and junior golf in general just completely changed and that went away. I was like well we're not worried about those other

states let's do our own thing. So we started the junior cup. We're coming up on our eighth year. We take Tennessee split it down the middle-65, 10 boys and four girls from each side and they just have it out. Router Cup, we do it the Grove, South of Franklin, in Nashville, and they've been incredible host and, you know, kind of a culmination of the season where they finally get chance to be on the same team. Then we do another thing in Knoxville, Kids Play Free, where we took two, part three courses in Knoxville Beverly Park in Concord, and provide an opportunity under the age of 18, free golf, 365 days a year. And we took time, cost, availability, all the stuff, balls, gloves, teas, everything you can need to play, just show up.

And parents are encouraged to participate participate and basically just try to give an introduction to the game that we all know and love. And whether they choose to try to play competitively, whether they just, it's going to teach you something. Maybe something you don't want to know, but it will give you the opportunity to learn something from it. It's been a really cool process and we we're gonna try to spread it throughout the state coming up, but it's kind of something where I could be a part of there in Knoxville where I live. And it's been really cool, the amount of social media stuff

I get, you know, hey, I took my kids' play golf for the first time, we can't wait to go back. You know, thank you for doing that. And it's like, man, like keep those coming. Right. I love it. People taking pictures, because there's a picture of me at one of them like, hey, you know, thank, this is my daughter, this is the first time she's ever been at a golf course.

Or this is my son, this is favorite place to come. Like, I love getting that kind of stuff. And, well, I think you're being a bit modest with it too. I think I read 6,400 rounds. We're last year, we're free of charge. Thanks to your kids play free program. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Well, to that point, the actual feedback and pictures from

actual humans, I imagine, means a lot more than seeing that number. It's just a number on a page, but when you start to hear the human actual reaction to it, it kind of changes things. Yeah, like the numbers and all that stuff, I don't think I really have an idea to wrap my mind around it, but I have an opportunity to know, seeing a seven-year-old, like little blonde girl with a pink bag, and you know, she's ready to roll. And just like, this is her spot. This is where she likes to come with her dad. They come on, you know, where it's not necessarily like, oh, well, it's expensive or so on and so forth. The course is, you know, it's just getting them out there. Right. It's, yeah.

You don't know any better of anything you're doing at that point. Just get out there and have an opportunity to go experience and learn from the game that's given me more than I ever deserve. Yeah. And I think that that's, you know, something hopefully other guys will take to heart and you know try to figure out other opportunities It was a kind of cool idea we had and doing a big fundraiser September 9th Where's that? It's a in Knoxville and we're gonna kind of get the word spread out here pretty soon But try to as I've spent the last six years transitioning between Scottsdale's own a Knoxville, Tennessee And we're building a house in Knoxville and that's kind of where we to be, and you know, kind of do some stuff with my family, and you know, integrate golf and other things to, you know, be a part of the things that we want

to do to try to help out the community, and that's definitely one of them. Well, I think, you know, the amount of people, and I'll play golf with somebody who, you know, maybe a 10-handy cap or something like that, and they'll, and that'll be asked me, how long have you been playing golf? And I said, yeah, since I was like seven or eight, I was lucky enough, my mom and dad would drop me off. It would pay $9 at Twin Oaks Country Club, which is not a country cup at all, the nine whole course, and we play it all day.

But I got those reps when I was young and I have a decently natural ability to hit it, whereas it's something you can't learn late in life. And I've so many people I run into say, man, I just wish I would have started earlier. Like my girlfriend wishes she would have started earlier, just having that natural ability from an early age. Like it's a golf as a game you can play for life. And like you said, you can learn so much from it,

whether you like it or not, you learn a shitload about like adversity and like dealing with making an aid. Like, and having to pick yourself up and like not getting down on yourself and kind of, I don't know, there's, I think there's a ton of life lessons to be learned from golf and I guess awesome that you're kind of sporting that program. You think we can do to help, let us know.

Yeah, my son just started getting into it. We got him his clubs and so on and so forth. I asked him if he wanted me to help him, like learn, he said, no, I don't think you know what you're doing. But he's very quick to like, he's six. And just try to like, just watch him. And the other day, he went with me

when I hit some balls and he decided he wanted to try to hit his driver out of the bunker. He was getting mad because he wouldn't go in the air. But just seeing that, I remember being that kid, I remember going to the course and hacking it around all day. And I mean, there's so many different things that the game has taught you. And it's like, I think it's Legos.

Like there's, I think there's something that comes in the pack of Legos, like instructions from Legos or whatever it says. Like don't teach your kids how to do this. Let them be creative, let them learn and figure it out on their own. It's kind of like that with cough. It drives out of the bunker, let them learn.

That's not the club. Yeah, it was funny. We were at, we were practicing and there was a couple of other guys there watching, like you're just gonna let your son over there. I was like, he's gonna figure it out that that's not gonna work. But if he does, maybe he's figured out something

that I don't know that he could teach me and so on and so forth But just seeing like you know him get out there with his clubs and just try to figure it out And I could care less if he decides to play golf Sure, but if not like I'm a supporter of him and whatever he does But is it's weird that he had no interest in all of a sudden He's just kind of taking off he did kids play free when over there. It's pretty close to our house. He's like I'm gonna try this out for a little bit and seeing that side of it has been pretty interesting, especially for my parents.

And especially that I do that for a living. Well, as I said, if you go in there and tell them not to hit drive rather the bunker, you're just gonna want to hit it more and more of that. No matter what I say, he's gonna try to do the opposite. And he's like, you don't know what you're talking about. It's like, sure, that's fine. Have at it. So you've been on tour for a long time now. Where do you, how is the tour kind of progressed?

And where do you see golf, professional golf, and golf in general heading? Yeah, I think it's interesting to think of, I remember talking to guys when I first got on tour, I was like, man, if I make it five years, I make it 10 years, I make it whatever. I think that the way that it's progressing and just the length of seasons and so on and so forth.

I remember being in Phoenix, there's so many other athletes that, you know, they have specific off seasons and, you know, whether it's three months or five months or so on and so forth. Like, you look at the tour schedule the way it is now. They may say the FedEx Cup is over, but I mean, the fall schedule starts the second week of September. So I mean, you're the FedEx Cup champion for about two and a half weeks and you're ready to roll again. And I think that it'd be interesting to see kind of the progression of whether it's the

champion's tour or whatever, some kind of hybrid or so on and so forth. But I think you're going to see guys, you know, get to the point. It's like, man, I'm done. Like I've done this for 15 years. I've traveled 250 days a year. Like, I've fortunately, I've made enough money. I can go do whatever. I don't need to chase this like I used to.

And when the guys used to play, you know, they had an offseason, you know, whether it's three or four months ago, get away from it or whatever. Now that if you're gonna stay competitive and you're gonna be out here for a long time, that off time is going further and further and further away. Because you're just falling so far behind if you take a bunch of weeks off. And whether that's during the season or

off season, obviously those top 50 are a little bit in a different situation, but I think there's in obviously that's where everyone strives to be. You have a little bit more leniency in your schedule. But in terms of your, you know, you know, quite a typical standard top 125 PGA tour player, you're talking roughly 30 events a year. And I think that's obviously more than what it was in the past, but just the volatility of, I mean, you're looking at almost 49 events coming up on a calendar year

with opposite fill and so on and so forth. I think it'll be really interesting to see how golf progresses in terms of career longevity and obviously we're in better shape. We take better care of that. That's at least something that people think about instead of... Well, and I think to that point, I think a lot of people listening to this could take the stance of like, oh, bored you guys, you get to play for millions of dollars every week.

There's so many opportunities to play for millions, but seeing, and I've said this a million times, so point where people are bored of hearing it, but it's a grind. It's hard physically on your bodies to travel every week, even if you're in great shape. It's just a lot on tough on families, and that's kind of to your point,

I think you're saying is, you almost have to be on the road so much. It's not the bent, you don't get the bent, the middle, I don't wanna say like, you're kind of class of tour player, you don't get the benefit of like picking and choosing a tiger like schedule. Yeah. And obviously, you know, play better.

That's the answer. Yeah, that is, that's it. You're trying your hardest. Yeah. That's the answer to everything. And, you know, there's, there's, there's sometimes where play better is applicable and there's somewhere it's just kind of cold-hearted

and just like, hey man, you know, you gotta figure it out. So those other guys that just accept the facts like, man, I need volume. I need volume to accumulate points and so on and so forth. But I think it'd be interesting to like you hear guys like, man, if I may get to 40 and I want the option to be Done and yeah, and this isn't a knock like I don't want to play champions to a golfer or whatever You know who knows man 34 now and though the idea of not playing sound so foreign but but getting you know later on down the road

You know just having the option and it'll be interesting to see what guys choose to do When it was just a foregone conclusion you were were going to play to the tour and knock you off or and then you're just going to hold on for your life to, you got the champions tour and ride it out. Right. But I think that is going to change significantly. Well, it kind of correct me or steer me if I don't understand this right. But from what I understand, the tour is a member run organization. I don't know if that's the right phrase or what, but basically it's like the, at least the executives on the PGA tour, they're part of their pay or bonus structure

is based on the amount of playing opportunities they create for the players. Is that sound right, do you, are you familiar with that? Yeah, I mean, it's gonna be hard from return down to someone that wants to give them my put a terminal. That's my point, but I wonder how many more can they keep adding? And I feel like I wonder what the incentive is.

I think that is the incentive, like for them to keep adding tournaments is like, okay, they get financially rewarded more and more. But also, I mean, that provides opportunities, as well. And I don't want to be the guy, it's like, ooh, feel bad for Scott. He's all these tournaments and so on and so forth. But I will never complain.

Right. Ever about that. I just more the, from a objective perspective, Hey, two month break or something. What, what are guys going to do when they get older? What, you know, it'll be interesting to see kind of what, what the trend is because I think you're going to buy to see a shift.

Yeah. Just in the terms of especially, we just got an opportunity to see kind of what the trend is, because I think you're gonna buy to see a shift, just in the terms of, especially, we just got our opportunity to preview the fall schedule and it was like, whoa. How many events is it in the fall? A project at 13. Whoa. Up from six or whatever it was?

Yeah, I remember the fall used to be, you played five events and you ended at Disney and it was awesome. If we could bring back the Disney event, now that I got two kids is like, man, we didn't have any kids. We played this tournament and you got the passes and you stayed there and all of a sudden I was like, I remember we went there in Bay Hill. We took my son and we took our kids and it's like, man, if we played here again, that'd

be great. So if anyone from Disney hears this, like, please let's bring it back. No, that's, yeah, that's interesting perspective. I mean, it's, there's a balance to be had there, right? I mean, you wouldn't, you know, want playing opportunities to go away for guys, but at the same time, you, you feel like maybe you're overextending yourself to make sure you keep the FedEx, your FedEx kept ranking up. It's kind of nice. Yeah, I remember talking to a buddy, man, he plays for the Nationals now. And he's like, man, y'all season is long.

He says, man, our season is long. Look at your season. Right. Like, I mean, you know, with pre, if they make the playoffs or whatever, you know, with preseason and so on and so forth, I mean, they get 180, you know, almost 190 games if you run deep into the playoffs.

Sure. And he's like, man, that's still half the year. It's said the other half of the year is spring training. He said, we've still got a significant amount of time where there's not a lot of baseball to add. And I just don't think about there, there's this really long, but it's in a really condensed part of the year.

And I think so on and so forth. And obviously there's the physicality of football and hockey and so on and so forth that kind of takes to like, man, we got to give these guys a break. And maybe golfers aren't looked at as much physicality of football and hockey and so on and so forth that kind of takes you like man we got to give these guys a break and maybe golfers aren't looked at as much as the multiple demands but I just well it would just be different if like I would imagine you would want to have your try to time your game to peak at the right times when now with current schedule it's like no just be on all the time basically there's no time yeah you

just take it. You take it as it comes and so on and so forth. But the one part that golf probably has a struggle with in terms of marketing value and so on and so forth is just the way to stay relevant. And obviously there's a huge struggle with football season and so on and so forth. So it's, hey man, we're just going to keep throwing at you. You may not focus on it, but you know it's always there. And then with the schedule change, with the majors,

and you'll kind of fall incrementally month to month month, you know, kind of all throughout the summer, like it's gonna be there. And people know that it can be relied upon and so on and so forth. Like, oh man, there's not a term for two months. All right, I'll see you in Capeloo. And when January rolls around, I feel like everyone is excited.un. Well, that's what, when January rolls around, I feel like everyone is excited.

Like everyone's like, let's go. We're back, we're ready, we got a break. And the winner is the best stretch on the PGA tour. I think it might be that people are inside and not able to play golf, and they're watching it. And then we see huge spikes in engagement from January through March.

And when we're trying to like, tweet up a storm in events in July, it just doesn't make you know. Nobody's paying attention. It's just, it's crazy. And maybe that's the, the idea as far as just volume, volume, volume, volume. But you guys a guy that's planning, it's like,

whoa, you might up tick of tournaments and tournaments, tournaments, and tournaments, tournaments. And I've been on the other side of that too. Like my rookie year, I miss my first five cuts in a row, and I played 37 events my rookie year. I mean, I never want to do that again in my life, but I was on the flip side of it. I missed so many cuts and tried to like, volume out to where I'm, and maybe I can just, you know, sort of, whatever keep my card, and then I kind of capped out and then I won,

and it's like crap, I'm in all these tournaments, I've never been in before, I'm just going to keep playing, right? And then you get down, like, hold the cow, I've been on the road, I'm in all these tournaments I've never been in before, I'm just gonna keep playing. Right. And then you get down, you're like, hold the cow, I've been on the road, I slept in my bed, my, I said I played 37 events, I slept in my own bed, my rookie, or 37 nights. Oh my God. Well, that's what the part, I may be envy you guys

or maybe don't, depending on how I phrase this, but it's gotta be so hard to say no to like, all right, there's $7 million up for stakes next week, I can go playing it if I want to, or I can rest. It's gotta be so hard, like, which one of those do you chew? You know what I mean?

It's like you're bypassing an opportunity to make a significant amount of money, but like you need to be able to rest and have peak performance. I don't know how you guys make out schedules. That's the part that to me, it's like, especially now with the adjustments, it's got to cut some trims, some big time events. Yeah, that's just, you know, we're kind of disciplined and kind of sticking to a plan and so on. Experience. Yeah. And understanding, like, you know, the ebbs and flows of golf. Like, I remember,

I played a practice round with Pat and Kazaira yesterday and we were talking about the wind in a practice round. It's like, hey man, what what time you're rookie year did you ever consider the wind direction? We're on number three, you know, the dog leg left, part of the horseshoe. And it's like, well, you know, today we're going to take it over here. And it's like you get up in the, you know, your first off Thursday morning and it's dead into you out of the left. And you play your practice around at four o'clock. And that afternoon is down off the right and you hit a wedge in the green. You get up there Thursday morning you're pulpit of foreign and you're like what in the world? I didn't even know this was

possible. And I mean that all comes with age. I mean I was an idiot when I first I mean not that I'm any smarter now but I've got a great guy on the back and it helps me through the process but you start to learn through all that stuff and kind of be able to figure out truly like, I would just go through the practice where I actually know we were cracking up as far as all the dumb stuff we used to do. Like I never carried a book, I never carried, I never looked at the forecast, I never looked at anything.

I just like, I'm gonna go out there, I'm gonna play golf like Thursday, like I did on Sunday, and nothing's ever gonna change. I mean, this is gonna be further from the truth. Eight iron in here, yesterday, it's gotta be the same club. It's gotta be the same, it's gonna be easy. It's gonna be like, I'm always gonna have the wind

in the direction I want. I'm never gonna have to fire away from the flag. I'm never gonna have to make 10 footer's for par. Like, no, I mean, that's not reality. That's what would have amazed me was, you know, kind of talking to some guys where I was the pressure on yesterday and talking about how hard some of the shots were.

Or like that was the mindset. And I wanted to say to the guys, like, dude, like it's hard, like relative, but relative, like you guys are literally the best at this. You know what I mean? And like members play, I know you play different teams, like members play this course every day. Like that, it's really hard for them.

But the mindset of some guys of being, I don't wanna say intimidated by certain shots, but thinking about how hard they are, it's like, I don't wanna say this quite literally, but it was like, if I had your guys talent, I would try so much harder to be like, this isn't hard, I'm great at this, I don't wanna take this attitude of like,

this is too hard for me to do, because I don't know if that makes sense or not, but I wanted to shake the guy, be like, it's not that hard for you. Yeah, I don't know. Maybe we try to like play it down or whatever in our minds or, you know, any opportunity spent some time on tour, you realize that, you know, we're just normal guys that happen to be just a little bit better at golf than most. A lot of better. Yes. I would say a little bit, but you know, that's all relative. But at the end of the day, there's the emotions that come into it and you kind of deal with like, well, this was really hard today, but the day before it felt pretty easy and you

kind of, there's so many different variables that come into play, but it's funny the shots that freak people out, where you see you have shots that freak people out, you know, where you see you have to guys like, man, that shot, just I don't even think about it. And you see like, man, I had this 40 yard like pitch shot, like in the grain over the bunker. It's like, man, I was winging out like, I don't have that shot. And you hear a tour player like tell someone like, I don't have that shot. Yeah. And it just freaks people out. Steve Elkington told a story about Tiger saying that to him about this like punch nine iron shot. He said, Tiger's like, yeah, I don't have that shot.

Oh my God. You do. You don't help you do, but you do. For the record, I'm not saying that shots aren't actually hard. There's a ton of what you guys go through and walking back to some of those T-boxes, man. Just it's got, does it beat you down at all?

Kind of the constant, constant challenge you guys face. Yes, but on this part, I'd say that, you know, the the second part of my career, I look on it as, you know, the good days are great and the bad days are a little bit easier to deal with. Yeah. And that's truly a just a fresher perspective.

And my ability to handle complaining on the tour and in day to day process like no one is coming and getting you out of bed and making you go play on tour that is a choice so you deal with it as it comes along and you know they're the attitude instead of the come along with it man I can't stand it and I've been pretty outspoken in regards to some guys in my groups like man you don't like it there's a door like there's a bunch of people to take your spot. And I think that just comes with a perspective of, I know what it felt like to feel like the game was getting taken away from me.

So now I know opportunity that every single time I'm out there, it's like, man, this, like, I love this. 74s aren't great and I don't love them, but I take them a little bit easier to know that I'm gonna have a chance to do it again the next day. I imagine was you get older kind of your emotions that come with the good and bad rounds. Yeah, you don't get as high when you have a great round and you don't get as low when you have a bad round because you kind of know, like, I don't want to say, like, you know what your talent is,

you know what your ability is and you know you're going to be in that range and you're going to have ups and downs within it, but there's no point in major least, unless there's real technical issues, there's no point in majorly stressing on a day-to-day basis of like when you shoot 74 and you go home for dinner, and I imagine it's the same when you go home and shoot 68. Yeah, and I just, the woe is me, and all I get is bad breaks and so on and so forth. Like I literally have zero patients to that,

whatsoever, it's like, man, and we all deal with it. Like this one up, man, I got this break, and I got this break, and I got this like, man, we're just gonna come in, we play the best tour in the world, on the best course in the world, we're treated like kings. Like, it's pretty good. Yeah, it's pretty good.

Instead of this rain delay, pity party, we all we need like self-help, like, you know, Dr. Ruth or whatever, the, you know, the columnists that like help you through the day or whatever, I feel like we need her in help, like, you know, Dr. Ruth, or whatever the, you know, the columnist that like help you through the day or whatever. I feel like we need her in the locker room to kind of talk us through, like, all right, you're gonna get through the day,

you're gonna be positive or whatever. Oh man, you're playing golf on tour, it's awesome. Yeah. Like get over it. Yeah. You had one thing you mentioned about Tiger. Yeah. So we're getting ready to play Memorial next week.

And I could ask this question all the time and I didn't mean to like, interrate this part of the story, but I got asked to said, you know Everyone wants a tiger story or whatever so in my career I'll play with five guys when there were number one in the world play with Luke Donald play Rory play with Dustin and Jordan and Tiger and 2013's player of the year we were playing when the second to last group on Saturday at memorial where he's nominated We both shoot like I think we shot said we both shot 73 and it was scrappy like That was pretty good for what with the way we hit it

We're walking to 18 and he you know our remember bits and pieces from you know talent level like You know, I remember bits and pieces from you know talent level like I said Rory was the only person I saw him do Something's like man. I got that. Yeah, like I don't have that shot That was pretty awesome Luke Donald short game sick Jordan's putting joke dust and just completely could care less Like you whether you make double bogie or three whole ones in a row It's just get up there and hit it and I'm really good at this game But tiger mine beats everybody, like a hundred times more than anyone else. So shoot 73, we go from, you know,

second to last group to like, you know, 15 through 18 through whatever. And we're walking up and we're gonna sign our scorecard and I said, hey, man, enjoy the day. He said, 67 tomorrow, I'll see you in a playoff. I'm like, this is two seconds after we've put it out. We have not made it off the green. Said, really?

Said, when's gonna change? We're gonna go out a little bit earlier. Of course, it's gonna be a little bit firmer. Said, we're gonna have to play a good round. But 67 tomorrow, I'll see you in a playoff. I was in the group in front of him. You remember where you like uppercut to look like you punch Ricky in the face

when you chipped that ball in on 16? Yeah. So I was in 17, fairway. So I was in the group in front of him. You remember where you like uppercut It looked like he punched Ricky in the face when you chipped that ball in on 16. Yeah, so I was in 17 fairway So I was in 2012 He won in 2013 was a 13. Okay, I thought it was 12 He remember you changed his shoes because he put it in I ain't team with white shoes for some reason super weird but we're standing on the green on He he makes a about a 30 footer on 18 to win by two and shoot 66 and I waited for him in the scoring tent. Like 67, I was like, yeah, I kind of stuck that one in

on 18 and he wins by two, he ended up shooting nine under par. And I'll never forget that. Like it was 2012, sorry to crack you in place. But I was there on that 16th green when he chipped that in and had that upper cut and that was that was Well, he literally looked in the video. I mean, he's 15 feet from Ricky But look like he's punching him in the face. Yeah, but But yeah, I called that the day before day before but he said, you know, 67 playoffs named birdies 1866

Wimbledon I was like, what'd you shoot the final day? I think I shot like 73 or 4 So you just missed the playoffs. I just barely missed it. But that's my, like, if I could tell a tiger story, whatever, like, I looked at my caddy is like, that's why, like, his, his mind, like, he's just going to will himself to just think about it totally different. And that was, you know, he had won the hero, like that fall before that, but he hadn't come back and won a tour of and I don't think on the full schedule to that point. And I remember that come back win being like,

oh boy, he's back again. So, all right, Scott, we're gonna get out of your hair man. Thank you for the time today. I appreciate all the perspective has been awesome. Yeah, man, I appreciate you guys having me. I love what you guys do and you know, keep popping it out. I can't wait to see the videos in front of me. We'll do it again sometimes soon. Cheers. Thank you man. That is better than most. How about in?

That is better than most. Better than most.